Consumers Focus on Security, Home Comfort
In a consumer society, there may be no better measure of how people feel than what they buy. Since Sept. 11, what Americans have been buying is security.
Not just security in the form of gas masks and antibiotics, although they have been flying off the shelves. The changes in consumer behavior in the last month run far deeper and suggest a powerful national craving for the comforts of family and home--cozy refuges from a frightening, unpredictable world.
Stock pots and roasting pans are selling; dresses and diamonds are not. People are buying bottled water and flashlights, Monopoly and GI Joe, craft supplies and just about anything that comes in red, white and blue.
Scary Halloween costumes are out. Police and firefighter costumes are in. Steak dinners are out. Domino’s Pizza is in.
“I think all of us want to feel that we’re doing something that makes our lives more secure, and we want to do something that’s within our control,” said Ann Lindstrom, a spokeswoman for ADT Security Services, one of the country’s largest manufacturers of home and business security systems. “All of us are trying to look at layers of security.”
Her company’s business has been up substantially, Lindstrom said, although residential burglar alarms and video surveillance systems are no match for hijacked airliners or biological weapons.
Natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes trigger well-documented responses: People buy little else but such emergency supplies as bottled water, batteries and canned food. But after weather disasters, people eventually take up where they left off. Since the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, consumer behavior seems transformed, at least for the time being.
At Borders stores, shoppers have made a run on Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” and any title from the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine bands. Neil Diamond (“Coming to America”) is hot, as is Ray Charles’ “Ultimate Hits Collection,” which features “America the Beautiful,” according to Len Cosimano, Borders vice president of multimedia merchandising.
Readers are snapping up books about germ warfare, Middle East history, terrorism and Nostradamus, the 16th century astrologer.
At a Borders Books Music & Cafe in Mission Viejo on Friday, Francis Bade was buying Dale Carnegie’s “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.”
“I’m reading a lot more motivational books,” said Bade, a 62-year-old salesman from Irvine. “They allow me to think about the best-case scenario a lot more often.”
Patrice Jones, a 33-year-old computer programmer from Anaheim, was picking up “Desecration,” the latest in the popular “Left-Behind” series on the second coming of Christ. “I’m interested in prophecy a lot more,” she said.
Other instant bestsellers: Judith Miller’s “Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War” and Ahmed Rashid’s “Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia.”
DVD sales are up; so are sales of televisions and home entertainment systems, said Best Buy spokeswoman Laurie Bauer. Major appliance sales are down.
At Toys R Us and KB Toys, violence has given way to wholesomeness. Shoppers have been buying traditional board games in record numbers, bringing Monopoly and Candyland home to play with the family.
Since President Bush first uttered the word “war” in connection with terrorism, GI Joe dolls have become a top seller. For younger children, the “Rescue Heroes” line of public safety workers has all but walked off shelves.
Halloween buying has been transformed as well.
Anything that suggests blood or death--the big sellers of past Halloweens--is out of vogue. “There’s been a very dramatic decline in the gory stuff,” said Enrique Contreras, manager of the Aah’s Gifts store in Sherman Oaks.
The big sellers for children have been firefighter and police costumes. For adults, Crocodile Dundee is a hit this year; so is Marilyn Monroe.
BuyCostumes.com, an online seller based in Waukesha, Wis., added a button to its home page urging buyers to “Show Your Patriotism.” Customers who click on it find Americana costumes such as Lady Liberty, a NASA astronaut, Uncle Sam and Babe Ruth. But political costumes, including George W. Bush masks, haven’t been selling well at all, spokeswoman Diana Krohn said.
“You know, it’s weird. . . . We still sell some, but not anywhere near what we normally would, and I think that’s because people are trying to show support--versus trying to mock--politicians, especially the president.”
Both BuyCostumes.com and Aah’s refuse to sell Osama bin Laden masks, although they assume someone will.
Sales at department stores and specialty apparel stores have been off sharply; the same is true of jewelry stores and large electronics chains.
Some declines must be attributed to an economy that was showing signs of weakness well before Sept. 11. But other shifts came only after the attacks.
In addition to filling carts with children’s clothes, cleaning supplies and other household basics, shoppers at Wal-Mart have nearly stripped the giant retailer clean of red, white and blue fabric and bunting.
Since the attacks, more people have focused on buying American-made products as an expression of their patriotism.
Before Sept. 11, about 24% of Americans said they were intent on buying American-made goods, traveling to as many as three stores to find what they wanted, according to market research firm America’s Research Group.
Last week, that number shot up to 36% of Americans, the researchers found.
At Michaels Stores, a chain of about 700 craft supply stores nationwide, sales of red, white and blue items--from paint to yarn to candles--helped propel the firm to a 10% sales gain in September over the same period last year. Sales through August had grown only 2% to 3%.
Beyond the patriotic supplies, Michaels reported across-the-board gains in craft and home decor supplies.
“People are looking for a diversion, and a lot of folks don’t want to watch TV anymore,” said Chris Holland, Michaels’ vice president of finance. “What happened makes us introspective and look at what counts and what doesn’t and, son of a gun, people are saying they want to spend more time at home with the family.”
At Victoria’s Secret, shoppers have been buying sensible underwear, bypassing racks full of the company’s racy teddies, garter belts--even brightly colored panties.
“People are buying what they need, nothing more,” said Roxanne Rudesill, a saleswoman at the Victoria’s Secret at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.
Applications for the stores’ credit cards are also way down. “It’s totally different from this time last year,” the saleswoman said.
Fine restaurants have been among the biggest losers in the post-attack economy. Fast-food restaurants bounced back quickly after Sept. 11, and takeout and drive-up sales are probably up, said Steve Anderson, president of the National Restaurant Assn. More expensive restaurants, he said, “have not recovered at all.”
One reason is that expensive restaurants, defined as those where meals cost $24 or more, get about half their business from travelers, and people are traveling much less. In addition, suburban dwellers are sticking to affordable and familiar neighborhood restaurants, Anderson said, or “picking up stuff and taking it home.”
Not surprisingly, the stay-at-home trend has been a boon for housewares.
Williams-Sonoma, which reported a better-than-expected performance in its most recent quarter, is noting far stronger than usual sales of crock pots and roasting pans, the company said.
The Bed Bath & Beyond chain reported a 24% profit gain in its most recent quarter. The company’s stock surged last week, and financial analysts predicted strong consumer interest in its moderately priced candles, kitchenware and comforters.
“Buying something for the home can be a belief that this is something that makes a longer-term, qualitative contribution to someone’s life,” said retail anthropologist Paco Underhill, author of “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping.” “And all of us would really like to feel better than we feel right now.”
For many Americans, shopping is recreational--and, in tough times, therapeutic.
At a TJ Maxx store in Canoga Park, friends Sarah Roth and Susan Gould were shopping Friday. “It’s our therapy,” said Gould. Why a discount store? “Why pay more? It’s in our genes.”
The two, who live in gated communities in Calabasas, shared a cart that was piled high with Christmas cards, toys to put away for future birthday parties, picture frames (Gould collects them) and a purple print blouse for one of Gould’s 7-year-old twins.
Both said they are staying away from malls, but shopping seems more attractive than usual. “If you sit home and watch the news all day, you become a captive,” Gould said.
Anyway, the two said with a laugh, they weren’t being selfish: They were just doing their duty to stimulate the economy.
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Times staff writers Patricia Ward Biederman and David Colker in Los Angeles, Dave McKibben in Mission Viejo, Fred Alvarez in Oxnard and Jessica Garrison in Costa Mesa contributed to this story.
